Willis Washington Jr. and Horace Stevenson III were in the Hamilton Heights Mickey D’s at 2:30 a.m. last December when a fellow customer assumed the two men were gay, they claim.

The customer “started to say he had a problem with gay people and that the gay lifestyle was not what God wants,” according to their Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.

They ignored the loudmouth, but when they got to the counter, Washington and Stevenson say the cashier joined in the homophobia and refused to serve them, the lawsuit alleges filed last week.

The customers began pushing the two men to the back of the store, prompting a panicked Stevenson to dial 911 before the cashier “actually handed one of the customers a metal pipe from behind the counter and motioned to him that he should hit plaintiffs with it,” according to the lawsuit.

The angry bigoted mob chased the guys out of the restaurant, the men claim. They returned to the scene once the police had arrived only to be put in handcuffs, arrested and blamed for causing the entire incident!

They were later released and charges dropped after the NYPD's mistake became clear.

The men have filed a lawsuit against the Colley Group, which owns that specific McDonald's franchise.

Now I seriously believe that McDonald is homophobic Company. Remember they have not budged out of their Sponsorship of Sochi 2014. I am a junkie and loved the McD's burgers and french fries. Yet, I ditched this brand for my second choice. They should realize that their main product depends on the "will" and "like" of customers. It's a choice not a necessity. For such Companies they have lot to lose when they neglect such incidents. It's no brainer that their Alliance with LGBT Community was a marketing stunt, not based on higher morales.

They showed include the police officers that cuffed them too. Why would they come back to McDonalds if they were they the victims are who called. Not to mention why not the other people involved get arrested as well

You read things like this and it becomes clear that the type of people that form these mobs are so brainwashed by religion that it over rides their idea of right and wrong. Those 2 men escaped with their lives only to be arrested. What happened to their knowledge of the 10 Commandments.

Sad..this is a big city with all sorts of people including (gasp) gay people. Not acceptable. This may have been a franchise, but they still represent the company. You have to follow guidlines set forth by the company, otherwise you can't use their name.

I am disgusted at this horrific incident of homophobia. As a queer person, who grew up eating that this very McDonald's on W145th St. and Broadway, I hope that cashier is fired and that McDonald's/Colley group ensure that this type of harrassment never occurrs again by making sure sensitivity training is provided for all their employees!

What the HELL is going on in NYC, since when have New Yorkers become so ignorant as far as diversity and tolerance goes? This is NYC not the south, are they going to start acting like the bible thumping hicks of the south? This type of attitude and ignorance was NEVER seen in NYC as it is today.

Apparently you can't compose a compelling comment without bashing another group of people. .. twice. Get off your damn Yankee soap box. The South doesn't have a lock on homophobia. And we even wear shoes sometimes.

It is a very unfortunate incident. This should never happen in today's world. All businesses are responsible for sexual harassment training of their employees and their employees' actions. I say sue the hell out of them even though I'm not in favour of lawsuits. It just seems that this is the only solution to get the problem addressed.

This is not the first time McDonald's has been involved in this kind of blatant homophobia and it IS the companies responsibility to make sure the employees are trained properly in how to deal with all types of customers therefore it is McDonald's fault, no question...A company is responsible for the people they hire that represent said company

Of course Mc Donald's had something to do with it! I'd be curious to know what awareness training the owner of this franchise offers to its employees; further what discipline action the franchise took with the employee who handed the customer the steel pipe?

The same for the NY POLICE Dept.

I suspect one look at the video recording would solidify the two claimants argument.

The franchise - (yes who have the money) as an obligation to safety of all it's customers. . .

in any other situation if a customer was harassing other customers it is a fair expectation that staff would call the police - NOT join in the harassment!

I'm unsure how it works in the US, but in Australia the owners of a company are legally responsible for ensuring a safe and healthy workplace for all employees, customers, suppliers, etc. So actually, suing the franchise owners of the store makes sense in this situation...

What do you mean you find it repulsive that these two feel McDonald's is responsible?!! That employee is a direct representative of McDonald's and if that employee feels he can treat people in this manner, that restaurant should be ready to feel the consequences!! These victims should not only be going after McDonald's but should be going after NYPD!!

McDonald's has liability because their employee participated and elevated the incident. "the cashier “actually handed one of the customers a metal pipe from behind the counter and motioned to him that he should hit plaintiffs with it”